Improved fruit basket and crate



UNITED STAT-Es.

PATENT OFFICE.

ANDREV F. NEW'ELL, OF WARREN, OHIO..

Specilication forming part of Letters Patent No. 36,723, dated October 21, 1862.

To all whom t may concern,.- .Be it known that l, ANDREW F. NEWELL, of Warren, in the county of Trumbull and State of Ohio, have invented new and useful Improvements in Fruit Baskets and Crates; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and complete description of the construction and operation of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specification, in which Figure 1 is a perspectiveview. Fig. 3 is a vertical section.A Fig. 2 is a top view with the cover of the crate oil', and Fig. Li is a perspective view of one of the baskets. V

rlhe nature of my invention relates to the construction of a skeleton crate, bound at each end with hoop-iron, so arranged that the band forms both hinge and clasp-lock, and to the construction of the fruit-basket, as hereinafter specied, and the manner of packing the same in the crate. l

A The end pieces, A, of the crate are made of onepiece of board each, about eight or twelve inches square. The sidesl and bottom consist of slats B. aboutone and a half inch wide and twenty-five inches long. These are nailed to the end pieces, three or four on each side, and threevor four on the bottom, according to the height andwidth. |The cover C is composed'of one piece of board, and comes iiush with the outer edge of the crate on all sides. A band of thin hoopiron, D, is nailed or screwed to the crate around each end, as seen in Figs. l and 2, including the cover. The end ofthe band E, Fig. 1, extends about one and a half inch beyond the cover, and when the crate is filled, as hereinafter stated, and ready for market, these ends E of the hoop D are slipped inside of the loops F and, are bent outward and upward, as seen in Figs. 1 andV 8. The loops F consist of a short piece of band-iron nailed to Vand around the upper front corners ofthe crate, as shown in Fig. 1. The fastening thus formed can be clasped and `unclasped at pleasure without injury to the crate. The band D at the angle G forms a hinge of sufficient tenacity to allow the crate to be opened and closed many times before the band will break. l

The fruit-baskets H, Fig. 4, are of square form, and willhold about one quart each, but the size may be varied. Whatever it may be, the basket must be one-half, one-third, or onequarter the width and depth of the crate, so

as to pack compactly without leaving vacant` space.

The sides .of the basket consist of one piece of thin wood, (such as is cut by machinery f from steamed blocks,) bent at right angles by cutting partly through with a sharp knife, oneside being double, as seen at H', and

tacked together with small head-tacks, as seen at I. The bottom K consists of six' narrow strips of thin wood (same as the sides) woven together, as-seen in Fig. 2. The end of each` splint is bent at right angles downward, as seen at L in Fig. 8, and each end thus bent down nailed `to the sides, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4 at M, which will thus place the bottom K about three-fourths of an inch above the ,lower edge of the, sides;

The body N of the basketis filled with small fruit (as berries) and packed in the crate side by side and one above another, and in conse` quence of the space below the bottom in each basket there will be no pressure upon the fruit, and none of it will beekposed to view nor`subj ect to being pilfered in transportation,

lwhile at the same time the fruitis sufficiently the sides A, cover C, band D with loops F,

and the baskets H, all constructed and arranged as and for the purpose substantially as set forth.

AND-REW E. NEWELL.

Witnesses: i

NV. N. PORTER, JEFFERSON PALM. 

